


Zaheer Week

by Relmarrowny



Series: Red Lotus Appreciation Weeks [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, giving Zaheer a personal reason to want to kill the queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:34:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5129531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relmarrowny/pseuds/Relmarrowny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fics for Zaheer Week. Will be mostly pre prison</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Zaheer is about twelve in this chapter.

He approached the bedside of his younger brother and stood next to his mom. Sweat beads covering his brother's brow and his face was flushed. Earlier that day, when he and Zaheer were walking home from the dojo, he started to cough and within hours was running the fever.

Zaheer handed his mother a wet cloth, which she took and placed on her son’s forehead.

“How is he?” his older sister Lei asked entering the room. She pushed herself between him and his mom and knelt down next to her brother.

“It’s only getting worse.” their mother sighed.

“And dad?” Lei asked.

“He’s sleeping right now...” Her voice trailed off.

Their father had been the first in their family to get sick. Three days ago he had the same symptoms as their brother. Now he was completely bedridden and barely opened his eyes.

It was no use calling a doctor. Several others in the village had the same sickness. It had hit their town only a week ago, and three people had already died. Two other villages were dealing with the same illness and there were reports that no one recovered. 

“Listen.” His mother breathed. “You two should get your sister Kala and leave.”

“No…” Lei said. “We can help you take care of them.” She put her hand on her mother’s shoulder.

Zaheer agreed that they should stay. He wouldn’t leave his mom to take care of two sick family members. And though he didn't want to believe it, it seemed all too likely that neither would survive... he didn't want to leave his mother alone if that were to happen. 

 “You don’t understand-“ His mother was interrupted by the font door bursting open and Kala running inside. She nearly ran Zaheer down before stopping and panting.

 “The military is here!” She announced through her breaths and her lips curled up.

“Oh good maybe they’ll have the medicine!” Lei smiled.

Within the past year, there had been a new drug developed that cured many diseases. It's discovery had been an accident, a chemist in the Fire Nation spilled a solution into one of their samples. It was still in its initial stages of development and the only place in the Earth Kingdom to get the drugs was Ba Sing Sei. Because there was a low supply the medicine was also expensive. But with the rate that the disease was spreading, it wouldn't surprise him if the Queen wanted the disease stopped before it had a chance to reach the capital.

Of course, there was chance that the medicine wouldn't work.

Zaheer wandered over to the window and looked outside. “I don’t see any soldiers.” He said. The streets were mostly empty save for a few people going back to their homes.

“They just got here.” Kala rolled her eyes. “They’re still sitting outside the village in their tanks.”

Zaheer looked back at his mother expecting her to be relieved. But the look on her face would only suggest the opposite.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah the medicine is basically penicillin.
> 
> I always imagined that Zaheer was the second youngest of four and had three sisters. But I decided last minute to give him a brother. (Also if he and P'Li ever had kids, I always imagine them having two girls, one a firebender and one and earthbender)
> 
> I kept getting called away while writing this, and I don't want to get too far behind on Zaheer week, so this will get another edit.


	2. Day Two: Guru Laghima

His eyes scanned the bookshelf, quickly reading the titles on the bindings. He reached for one that caught his eye, an older book with a faded title. 

“Zaheer.” A voice called startling him and he dropped the book.

He turned to see a  sentry making his way towards him. The sentry stopped next to him and picked up book up.

“You like Air Nomad philosophy?” the sentry smiled reading the title.

“I guess.” Zaheer looked down at the ground.

The meditation exercises weren’t doing enough for him. He was still plagued with nightmares and intrusive thoughts of the final days with his family. Grieving followed, which often left him not wanting to get up or socialize with anyone.

He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life mourning his family and friends. The members of the order often spouted wisdom from long dead masters, and used it to live their lives. While none of it had been useful for his situation, he was convinced that some wise person had once said something or had a philosophy that would help him. For what he had known about the four nations, he figured he’d have the best luck with the Air Nomads.

The sentry handed him the book. “Guru Laghima? Not many are familiar with him.” He laughed. “But that one is a hard read.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Zaheer wasn’t in the mood to discuss it. He had planned to pick out several books and read a little of each to see if anything caught his attention.

After a year he still wasn’t sure what to make of the Order of the White Lotus. They had found him near starving as he attempted to make his way to Republic City. Weeks after being nursed back to health, they were impressed with his martial arts and let him stick around.

He enjoyed listening to the different philosophies they would often discuss. However, the sentries could be distant and were often dismissive whenever he brought up his anger towards the Queen or his concerns about rumors that warlords were taking over certain isolated sections of the Earth Kingdom.

He had hoped to meet Avatar Aang. But the avatar was busy. The world was still a mess after the Hundred Years War. On top of dealing the problems facing every nation, the avatar wanted to bring back his near extinct culture through his children and the Air Acolytes.

Noticing the time, he picked out five books and headed for the exit. A prince from the Northern Water Tribe would be visiting and he was expected to be present for the arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that was kind of an info dump. I originally didn't plan to write anything for Guru Laghima and decided to last minute. I always figured that Zaheer had been part or close to the White Lotus at some point and that is where he first learned of Guru Laghima's teachings. Also how he met Unalaq.


	3. Chapter 3

He sat next to P’Li at the edge of the bed. Her arm was wrapped around him.

“And after ten days, they let the few of us that didn’t die leave.” Zaheer concluded his story. A weight felt like it had been lifted as he finished.

He didn’t plan to tell P’Li what happened to his home. After all that she had gone through she didn’t need to be burdened by his story. But though he tried to hide it, she knew that something was bothering him and she insisted that he tell her.

“I’m sorry.” She said holding him tighter with her arm.

“Don’t be, it’s nothing compared to what you went through.”

He shuttered recalling everything she had told him of her past.  Her mom and two brothers being slaughtered in front of her, the vile things the warlord made her do and his cruel punishments if she disobeyed.   He didn’t deserve the instant death that P’Li had given. If it were Zaheer’s choice he’d have gone to the fog.

“Come on, it doesn’t always have to be about me.”  

P’Li gave one of her rare smiles and feeling his face get warm, Zaheer looked away.

He liked being with her. She was one of the few people who didn’t mind when he talked about the different philosophies he had gotten fond of while with the White Lotus.  And she spoke up if he’d gone on too long as he was prone to do. And like him, she wanted a world free of tyrants, although her reasons were a little different than his.

That moment he wanted to reach for her hand and…

_No, don’t go there…_

He was all she had and the last thing she needed was for him to complicate their relationship. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one needs a better ending.
> 
> I wasn't sure how to write the beginnings of their relationship, because of what we know about P'Li, so here is Zaheer realizing he has feelings for her.  
> As for how their relationship started, I headcanon that P'Li was the one that initiated, I think it's only appropriate that she be the one. And I headcanon that they were friends for a year before they started their romance.


	4. Chapter 4

She pressed the cloth against the cut above his eye. Zaheer backed up feeling the sting.

“Hey don’t move.” P’Li frowned and grabbed wrist. “You’re lucky you didn’t lose your eye.”

He barely had time to dodge the sword. If P’Li hadn’t called out to him, he would have been dead. 

“How bad does it look?”

“Can’t tell, there’s still a lot of blood.” She pressed the rag above his eye applying pressure.

 She didn’t have to tell him. He could feel the blood running down his face and dripping onto his clothes.

He cringed, once again feeling the sting. But he eyed the leathery scars that covered her arms, and remembered those that covered her back.

_Okay you can handle this._

When the bleeding stopped, she placed a bandage over the cut.

“You’re probably going to have a scar.” She said placing her fingers above the cut.

“Well I guess that isn’t too bad.” He shrugged.

“Yeah, like I said, you’re very lucky.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is short. I had few ideas for scars but there were either too ambitious to write in an evening, or there wasn't really a plot. Like one was just Zaheer and P'Li just touching each other... and that was it... I had no idea how to work that into a short fic. So here you go. P'Li taking care of Zaheer after he got his scar.


	5. Void

 At the end of it all, there were only a handful of people left in the village. It had been ten days since anyone had shown any symptoms of the sickness and the military was finally letting them leave. Not that there was any other choice, the village was to be burned to further prevent any further the spread of the sickness.

His sister Kala was the last off his family to die. Zaheer took care of her through the final stages of the illness, where she coughed up blood, hallucinated, and seized before she died. The air smelled of burning flesh, as it had for the past several weeks, when he carried her body to the fire pit. Then he waited for himself to start showing the symptoms almost ready to welcome them. But they never came.

No medicine was brought to the village. It was all to be kept in Ba Sing Sei, reserved for the queen, her subjects, and those that lived in the upper ring, in case the disease had spread to the capital. The military had said that it wasn’t worth wasting on small villages that produced no valuable resources. Instead, the queen had ordered a quarantine for any village or town where the symptoms appeared. Anyone who attempted to leave was killed, the soldiers would not risk getting near anyone who may have been infected.

Having no desire to be anywhere near the military, Zaheer started to walk towards the nearest town. He dragged himself along and tried not to think of his family and friends. But it was no use. After several weeks the grief now felt like it was just another part of him. It was like weights were tied around him, trying to pull him to the ground while his whole body ached. He could barely think straight, having wandered off the road on several occasions. If he could just feel nothing... even just for a little bit.

He thought of the Air Nomads, and how they sought inner peace, meditation being a major part of their daily lives. At Air Temple Island in Republic City, he could become an Air Acolyte. 

He turned towards the direction that would lead him to Republic City. But he didn’t get far. Food had become scarce in the final days of the quarantine, and despite not eating much, he hadn’t felt hungry. His legs got weak and he collapsed to the ground. He heard footsteps approaching but he didn’t have the motivation to get up or even care.

“Hey it’s a kid.” A figure stood over him.

Zaheer looked up to see a man in a blue and white uniform.

“Bring him inside.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I could finally write this and explain what happened with his village. Also figured I'd try to explain the beginning of Zaheer wanting to enter the void. (Even though at this point he doesn't know about Guru Laghima.) Also the start of his leanings toward anarchy and his fascination with Air Nomad culture.
> 
> I thought up a more violent (admittedly inspired by Warcraft 3, where the Queen ordered the military to kill everyone who had been exposed to the disease (everyone in the village) and Zaheer manages escape. While that would explain Zaheer's hatred for the monarchy I felt it was way too over the top. So, "quarantine and see whether or not you live because you're a lowly commoner" it is.
> 
> And yeah, sorry for my poor attempt to describe grief/depression.


	6. Day 6: Spirit World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is an info dump. But I'm determined to get something out every day for Zaheer week.

Years in prison passed. Everyday, he escaped his cell by projecting into the Spirit World, only returning to sleep and eat. Part of him felt guilty, his friends didn’t have the luxury and he doubted that their prisons were any better than his. But on the other hand, it was a way to defy the White Lotus, who often taunted him for being confined to that small cell.

In the Spirit World, if he wasn’t speaking to another Red Lotus op, he was in Wan Shi Tong’s library. Years ago, Unalaq had managed to get on good terms with the owl, who hated humans and didn't allow any inside the library. Within weeks after Zaheer finally managing to enter into the Spirit World, Unalaq convinced Wan Shi Tong to let him visit.

Wan Shi Tong only tolerated Zaheer’s presence, remarking that he was at least quiet and put everything away when he was done.

Most of his days were spent reading up on the world before the avatar, specifically on Raava and Vaatu. He did read a little about Avatar Wan, but most of what he came across were stories of his countless lovers, both men and women.

Interestingly, only one of Wan's partners had been a firebender, and one he seemed particularly fond of… but most of the pages on her had been torn out. Zaheer wasn't concerned about his love life and had no intention of looking for any further information on her.

That particular day he strolled through the library looking for information on combustionbenders. It had troubled P’Li that she knew very little about her subskill or why she even had the ability. There were no combustionbending scrolls in their world and no books to explain what it was. History books wrote about the combustionbender from Aang's time, but they only informed that he was sent by Prince Zuko to kill Avatar Aang.

Years after searching, he concluded that Wan Shi Tong’s library was the only place they would have any hope of finding information. But, after wandering through the halls on multiple occasions, Zaheer could never find a single scroll or book.

Zaheer noticed the time. The White Lotus would soon bring him a meal. The last time he overstayed in the Spirit World they didn’t even bother leaving the food in his cell. But he'd search another day. Prison had given him the time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm only guessing that the reason Unalaq and Zaheer knew of Raava, Vaatu, Wan, and harmonic convergence, was that they read about them in the spirit library. I don't think Korra knew about them until book two? I can't imagine that the White Lotus wouldn't tell her about Raava and Vaatu, or that she wouldn't at one point ask about the first avatar. 
> 
> I know the owl said that humans weren't allowed in the library, but Unalaq seemed to be the exception?
> 
> I figured Zaheer spent most of his imprisonment in the Spirit World. Both as a fuck you to the White Lotus and because... why would anyone spend years in a small dark cell if they didn't have to?


	7. Day 7: Relationships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I had another fic for relationships that just needed a little more editing. And when I went to finish it after work it was gone. I don't know if I forgot to save or what, I was falling asleep while I was finishing Spirit World. But I tried to rewrite it and I just couldn't get it to work tonight. So I wrote this, which was a little easier.

Water wrapped around his burned arm and started to glow. The pain was already dulling.

“This will take a while.” The tiny waterbender said.

He and P’Li were both happy that Ming-Hua had chosen to stay with them. P'Li had to convince her that they didn't have an ulterior motive and that she could leave whenever she wanted. She still didn't fully trust them, but P'Li had told her a little of her past as a way to connect with her.

“Alright how is it.” Ming-Hua asked pulling the water away.

There was a red mark left where his burn had been, but the pain was gone. “Great. You’re a good healer.”

“Yeah, that’s all I was allowed to learn.” She frowned and looked away from him.

He had to stop himself from asking any further questions. Ming-Hua had told them that she was from the Southern Water Tribe and that she was never going back. The way she spoke, it was obvious that something had happened to her, but neither pushed for any further information.

“You know, I have some waterbending scrolls, would you like to look at them?” He asked. While her waterbending was good, and she had adapted it to her needs, it was still a little clumsy and she didn’t know many techniques.

She looked at him. “Why do you have those?”

He shrugged. “I just like to collect them. I also have some firebending and earthbending scrolls. I haven’t found any for airbending though.” And he would love to find one, but most had been destroyed during the Hundred Years War and any remaining were probably at Air Temple Island.

“Northern or southern style?” She asked.

“One I know is northern.” Unalaq had given it to him. “And I’m not sure about the other.” He and P’Li had found it in an abandoned house and it was a little faded.

“Okay I'll look at them.”

He returned with the two scrolls and rolled them out on the floor for Ming-Hua.

“That one will be easy… and that one too.” She had a genuine smile, the first he had seen from her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had the headcanon that Zaheer collects bending scrolls for awhile. And its not just bending scrolls but other stuff, mostly having to do with spirituality, or philosophy. And P'Li doesn't get why he wants that stuff because it takes up space in his bag and they're not necessities.


End file.
